This invention relates generally to apparatus for automatically turning pages of a book or the like; more particularly it concerns simple, compact, reliable apparatus which requires only minimal effort of a user or reader to effect the page turning operation.
There is need for devices of the type described herein, allowing persons who are partially immobilized, disabled or bedridden to turn pages of a book, at will, merely by operation of a switch. Prior devices either did not have this capability or they were bulky, heavy, or insufficiently reliable particularly when inverted to cause the book to face downwardly toward a bedridden patient. Examples of prior devices are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,638,701; 1,692,337; 2,359,895; 2,677,510; 2,317,001; and 3,343,776. Such prior devices were not constructed for turning pages of so-called "paper back books" whose rough textured pages are especially difficult to handle, mechanically. My U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,361 discloses unusually advantageous improved apparatus for turning pages.